Michael Fassbender considered breaking his own arm to avoid Steve Jobs movie

Alternatively he could have just quit. Photo: François Duhamel/Universal Studios

Actor Michael Fassbender, who played Apple’s late CEO in last year’s movie biopic Steve Jobs, has said he was so worried he had been miscast that he started planning some slightly extreme ways to get out of the role.

“In rehearsals, I was trying to find a way to get out of the job,” he told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I remember telling my driver, ‘If I put my arm in the door, you should slam it. It should cause a break and it should get me out of this gig.’”

As is well-documented, Fassbender was not the first choice for the role — and was only given it after Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale reportedly passed. While Fassbender physically looked nothing like Jobs, he was nonetheless heavily praised for his performance. He even secured a “Best Actor” Oscar nomination.

At the time, however, Fassbender said he was intimidated by the role as written by Aaron Sorkin.

“He wrote all that stuff, it was so dense,” Fassbender said. “It was such a mountain, and I’m a slow learner, so when the script arrived for me and the opportunity came to play the part, I really thought, ‘This is not me. This should be somebody else. It’s a miscast scenario.'”